Meco all'altar di Venere

"Meco all'altar di Venere" is an aria from the opera Norma by Vincenzo Bellini, sung by the character Pollione in act 1, scene 2.

Libretto

Original Italian[1] English translation[1]

Meco all'altar di Venere,
—Era Adalgisa in Roma;
Cinta di bende candide,—
—Sparsa di fior la chioma.
——Udia d'Imene i cantici,
——Vedea fumar gl'incensi;
——Eran rapiti i sensi—
Di voluttade e amore

With me in Rome before the shrine
—Was Adalgisa bending;
Bound in her locks in hue divine
—Rivall'd were lilies blending;
Softly her hand she press'd in mine,
—Air breath'd with incense around us.
Sweeter delights await us—
—Thy holiest pleasures, love!

Quando fra noi terribile,
—Viene a locarsi un'ombra,
——L'ampio mantel Druidico
—Come un vapor l'ingombra.
Cade sul l'ara il folgore,
——D'un vel si copre il giorno,
——Muto si spande intorno—
Un sepolcrale orror.

When an unearthly, awful shade,
—Fashion'd itself from nothing,
Mists, like a Druid mantle laid,
—Around it ghastly floated.
Tempest his legion flames arrayed,
—Daylight shrank out all sickly,
Hideous, 'mid darkness, thickly
—Sepulchred horrors move.

Più l'adorata vergine
——Io non mi trovo accanto,
——N'odo da lunge un gemito,
——Misto de' figli al pianto,—
—Ed una voce orribile,
——Echeggia in fondo al tempio:
——"Norma così fa scempio
Di amante traditor!"

Vainly I sought the gentle one
—There at the altar kneeling.
Mocking my search, a stifled moan
—On o'er the night came stealing;
While in a deep, mysterious tone,
—Re-echo'd thro' the temple:
"Norma thus makes example
—Of traitors false to love."

References

  1. 1 2 Bellini's Opera Norma With English and Italian Words, and the Music of the Principal Airs., Boston, Oliver Ditson & Co, 1859
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